With Willie Gone, How Long Until Minaya Joins Him?

"Willie was my hire. It was my decision, and I decided to fire Willie. It was my decision… I have vested interested in Willie Randolph doing good … Willie Randolph is a reflection of my judgment." This is what New York Mets General Manager Omar Minaya said about the firing of ex-manager Willie Randolph at the press conference earlier this week in Los Angeles. Randolph was not happy with how the team let him go and he has the right to be upset, but not only for that reason. Minaya and Randolph came to the Mets organization in the same off-season, and like Minaya said, it was his decision to hire Randolph. At the start of their tenures with the Mets, success was coming from all directions. Minaya signed Carlos Beltran and Pedro Martinez, making an immediate statement in trying to get this team back to the headlines of the Daily News and the New York Post. Randolph and the Mets picked up 13 more wins than the previous season and were one really good week from making the playoffs. After the 2005 season, Minaya acquired numerous players such as Paul Lo Duca, Billy Wagner, Carlos Delgado, Xavier Nady, and several others. With Randolph at the helm, it appeared as if the 2006 season would be the year the Mets not only would outshine the arch-rival New York Yankees, but perhaps make it to the World Series. After winning the division and making it to the NLCS to play the St. Louis Cardinals, the Mets were moving closer to their preseason goals. Unfortunately, they weren't able to beat the Cardinals and were forced to wait until next year. Then 2007 came along and I would rather not talk about the last 6 weeks of that season, but we all remember what happened. It was in the off-season of 2006 that Minaya started to make some key mistakes as the General Manager. He traded Heath Bell to the San Diego Padres and Brian Bannister to the Kansas City Royals for basically nothing. He also dealt Mike Jacobs to the Florida Marlins, where he is developing into a nice hitter. In addition the signings of Moises Alou, Orlando Hernandez, and Luis Castillo haven't panned out as expected. With all of his big signings it was never a question if Minaya could judge talent that well. While he did have success as GM of the Montreal Expos, Minaya did manage to give the Cleveland Indians Grady Sizemore, Cliff Lee, and Brandon Phillips for Bartolo Colon. As good as Colon was, it is hard to say that the deal didn't turn out to be a bit one-sided. This could have been the true indicator that Minaya is only concerned with winning right away. Minaya's signings of the past few off-seasons are now coming into question. Did he give Pedro Martinez too many years and too much money? Why did Delgado get that great of a deal? Whats wrong with Oliver Perez? While Randolph hadn't been able to cope with all of the personalities and egos in his locker room, is it his fault that all of these guys were mashed together? Wouldn't that be Minaya's? Where would the team be if they didn't draft Jose Reyes and David Wright before Minaya even came along? There are many questions that can be asked about this entire situation and how it should have been handled. However, as we stand right now, Randolph is out of a job and Minaya sits in his box at games perhaps wondering what went wrong, and how he had better come up with an answer some time soon; otherwise he and Randolph will be standing next to each other on the unemployment line, and we know that their conversation won't be pretty.